Update:

I'm trying something new...putting all of my handouts out at the first of the month. That way if you're covering a different topic that week you still have something if you want them! All handouts are 4"x5" so you can fit 4 on a page, or you can download the PDF versions. Enjoy!

Now, I KNOW Thanksgiving hasn't even happened yet, BUT there are only NINE Saturdays until Christmas!! Yikes! This year I decided that I want most of my gifts to be DIY gifts...but a lot of the time I'm not very creative. So I compiled a list of homemade, DIY gifts! 17 ish. I'm not that I counted right, and I'm not counting again. Either way, that means you can do two-ish every Saturday from now until Christmas. Math is not my strong point, so if I'm wrong, just laugh.

Handouts are still the same--Charity and Virtue previously had the same scriptures on them, but now they have the right scriptures on them. We've moved where to download them and you shouldn't have any problems with the site! Thanks for stopping by! Make sure to follow us for updates!

These are mini 3x2 cards to be used throughout the week. Print them on card-stock and have the girls take a few to write down the blessings they see throughout the week. Again, here is the link to download them.

These are 3x2 "love note" cards for the girls. Print on cardstock and have your girls take a few for the week to write notes of encouragement and love on the back. Encourage them to then give them to those that could use a kind word. Great way to apply the lesson! Again, the download link is here. Please tweet, pin, or share these on Facebook!

My husband and I have a toddler just shy of being 2 years old. Family Home Evening is a little hard sometimes, simply because toddlers have short attention spans...but if we are being totally honest, so do I. So we came up with "short and sweet" family home evenings. We will share one every week, so make sure you sign up for our email updates to get them sent straight to your inbox. Here is this week:

SING: Follow the Prophet SAY: 1 Nephi 19:24 and/or one thing you learned from General Conference this past weekend SHOW: Thomas S. Monson (or picture of a prophet) SWEET: Skittles! (simply because we have some leftover from conference)

Don't forget to leave your email address here if you haven't already signed up! This way next week you will get Short and Sweet sent straight to your email.

I am totally amazed at the speed with which LDS quotes from General Conference are put out. I'm not that fast. I like to sit back and enjoy conference! But, I love the quotes, so of course I made just a couple while my husband was at the Priesthood session. Why not, right? I think the emphasis on missionary work is huge! I've always been afraid of missionary work, but I love what M. Russell Ballard said; "Pray for the strength to become more bold" in sharing the gospel. What did you get out of Conference?

click to download!

PS. You can download the above images for free by clicking on them, or check out this other stuff! (Christmas is coming up, and these would make awesome gifts!)

Life's a little slower for us. Yesterday the Rainbow Maker and I did a little art project. Here's how her's turned out.

Rainbow Maker's Art

http://ge.tt/3JWzArt/v/0?c

It's the Church's 2014 Mutual theme, here with my design. I wanted to see how this type of design would turn out with it. It's a hand drawn, ink drawing and I kind of like it. I did my print on watercolor paper and watercolors. She did here's on smooth art paper and markers.

And because some of you aren't in YW here is a blank one to use. This might work for youth to color in during General Conference and put a quote in the blank section. Or maybe something for Primary. You can tell us how you thought to use it.

Death happens differently for each person, but the outcome of it is the same for everyone it touches. We are left to mourn someone we love and a chance to live again. My sister died about two months ago. If you’re new you can read about it here, here, here, and here. If you’ve been with us for that long, you basically know the story. I still don’t understand why she’s gone, and that’s okay, but I wanted to share my "tips" for dealing with death. Hopefully they can help you too.

It’s okay to not be okay. People will ask you, “How are you doing?” Simply and politely be honest. Most of the time when people asked me, “Are you okay?” I replied with, “Not really, but I will be”, or “I don’t really know”. Most people will leave it at that.

Realize that people who say you “I know exactly what you’re going through...” really mean well, and want to empathize with you. This was really hard for me. My sister was only 28 when she died and was never conscious to see her firstborn child, and when well-meaning people would say things like, “Oh, I just had a grandmother who was married for a thousand years, had 13.689 kids, 2983 grandchildren, and lived a million years passed a year ago…” (slight exaggeration). I had to remind myself that these were friends, just trying to let me know that I wasn’t alone.

It's okay to talk about it. It's also okay to not talk about it. Sometimes, you just don't want to. and you don't have to.

Don’t blame people for the death; not God, not the doctor, not the drunk driver, not anyone. It doesn’t make you or anyone else feel better.

Let go of guilt. I think there were three times I could have seen my sister in the three days before she was on life support in the hospital, and I didn’t go see her. I’m sad that I didn’t, but I know she doesn’t blame me and wouldn’t want me to be mad at myself for the rest of my life because I didn’t.

Look for beauty in tragedy. It’s there. You just have to look.

Pray always. Not sometimes, or often, or whatever. Pray always, and pray for yourself. Always have a prayer in your heart. This actually helps me with life in general, but especially with the passing of Leila.

Pray for those that have died. Just because they are gone, doesn’t mean you can’t pray for them. I simply pray for Leila to know we love and miss her, and it makes me feel better.

Write to those that have passed. Sometimes I just miss people. Writing out my feelings as if I’m speaking to them helps a lot. Our family actually set up an email account so people could email letters about Leila to save them for her son. I love reading other people’s memories of her.

Remember them. My sister blogged and took pictures all of the time. Her blog is still up, and her Facebook account is still active so far, so we have been able to look at pictures, and leave notes on her wall like she’s still here. We talk about her as a family. We remember her every day…and sometimes we still make jokes at her expense, just like we used to.

Visit their grave site. Sometimes I just drive by and say, "Hello!" out loud. You can call me crazy.

Go to the temple to find peace.

Serve someone, because there is no better way to forget yourself than remembering someone else.

How have you coped with the death of a loved one? Add to the list in the comments!

UPDATE: Right after I initially posted this I realized the post title should actually read, "Coping with my sister's death and things that HELP". Because coping with death is on-going...it never really goes away. We remember every day. We live on every day, but it doesn't necessarily make the missing go away. It's a daily thing. I still hope you can find the post helpful to you. Remember to read the comments that have been added for more ways to help cope! (11/06/2013)